Volume 39, N. 1, Special Issue: Unsaturated Soils (Invited Editors: G.F.N. Gitirana Jr. & D.G. Fredlund), January-April 2016 | DOWNLOAD PDF(17 downloads)
Abstract
Poisson′s ratio is typically assumed to be constant for both saturated and unsaturated soils. However, the back-calculated Poisson’s ratio using the relationship between elastic and shear modulus (i.e. the equation for homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic continuum) published in the literature showed that the Poisson’s ratio is not constant but decreases with the degree of saturation (or increasing suction). In the present study, more focused investigations are under-taken to study the influence of Poisson’s ratio on the stress vs. settlement (SVS) behaviour of shallow foundations in an un-saturated fine-grained (UFG) soil. The FEA are carried out using the software, SIGMA/W (GeoStudio 2007) to better understand the SVS behavior taking account of the influence of Poisson’s ratio for different matric suction values and com-pared with the model footing tests conducted in an UFG soil. Several suggestions are made with respect to the influence of Poisson’s ratio on the SVS behavior of shallow foundations in the UFG soils based on the results of this study.
